Keiji Shibazaki

Keiji Shibazaki (9 April 1894-20 November 1943) was a Rear Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy who served in World War II as the commander of the Japanese troops stationed on Betio in Tarawa Atoll.

Biography
Keiji Shibazaki was born on 9 April 1894 in Kasai City of Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. In 1915 he graduated from the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy at rank 26 out of 95 students and served in the IJN for many decades. In 1943 he was promoted to Rear Admiral and commanded the Japanese garrison on the island of Betio in Tarawa Atoll, one of the Gilbert Islands of Kiribati. 1,497 IJN soldiers, 1,122 marines, and 1,427 Korean and Chinese troops were put under his command, and he said that "it would take a million men a hundred years" to conquer the island, whose airfield was heavily-defended. On 20 November 1943 he and his senior officers were killed by naval gunfire from United States naval destroyers during the battle of Tarawa in World War II.